Notes taken from the proceedings of the Student Writing in Transition Symposium 2011, Nottingham Trent University

Increasing Seminar Participation; Lessons from EAP for everyone

Dr Ellie Kennedy

1) Purpose of seminars?

- Explore, question, small group discussion, access to tutor

International students in transition. School to uni; home culture to UK culture; one education system to another; learning in their home culture to another.

Problems they might face:

- Difficulty following the discussion

- Difficulty expressing ideas

- Difficulty understanding materials used

- Difficulty understanding task instructions

- Unused to speaking out

- Unused to questioning others

Importance of seminar participation for academic success.

- Participation in classroom discussions

- Participation in debate with classmates

- Ask for clarification

Internationalisation

- Recruiting more international students

- International content for modules

- EAP courses

We could also internationalise teaching styles to focus on international learning needs, even in subject modules/seminars

Case Study from Business Seminar:

New Coke: A Classic Brand Failure

Ideal student can read the text quickly, understand the content easy, critically engage readily.

EAP – Style Approaches

EAP Professionals:

- attuned to the particular needs of international students

- used to adapting materials

But, EAP methods can be used across disciplines…

How would you approach ‘New Coke’ material to maximise engagement?

- You tube advert clip

- Give materials and task beforehand

- For and against

- Break into sections/language/simplify/add changes

- Make it interactive – taste test? … brand loyalty

- Add human story

- Role play

FLUTE: 5 Step Process

1) Focus

2) Language

3) Understanding content

4) Thinking

5) Engagement

1) Focus

Before reading, give ‘soft’ questions, i.e. what is failure?

2) Language

Plan a task to help students identify key words; help them to define/understand. E.g. list of marketing strategies in date order, help structure text, help introduce key terms (blind test)

3) Understanding content

Break into sections; comprehension tes; what happened? What happens next? After reading: process main ideas; why did Coke introduce New Coke? Why did it fail? Outcomes? Discuss in groups so students more at ease.

4) Thinking

Give students chance to formulate a position on main issue; groups discuss ‘what would you advise if you were a market researcher for Coke? Show there are multiple answers.

5) (Critical) Engagement

Students ready to engage so time to ask the question, ‘was new coke a tactical manoeuvre or a mistake?’; students can now self-select a stance; more ready to discuss/debate/interact/participate

Questions to think about…

- How can we share ideas at our HEI’s?

Notes from the Proceedings of the Student Writing in Transition Symposium 2011, Nottingham Trent University

Bringing the University to the student and the student to the University

Lisa Clughen, NTU

- What we encounter; how we understand this; how we respond

- Why awareness of ‘skills’ is not enough for writing

- Students diagnose what they need via a skills discourse

- ‘skills’ the dominant paradigm for students and tutors

- Embedding the skills is sometimes ‘bought in’ and separating out skills and subject (autonomous approach?)

- During workshops, students quite good at articulating writing processes

- Writing is deeper than ‘skills’

Experiences from students

- Not understanding the reading

- Text books difficult

- Getting head round information

Therefore, it’s the content of the course. So literacy should be a development in thought, not skill. And this shifts how we support writing.

Moved away from skills towards literacy as a social practice. Always embedded in social practices. So writing is not decontextualised, it has its own connotations in diff disciplines. So we need to unpick these connotations.

Epistemological – how you think/approach data structures how you write. i.e. if you see the world as facts, you will write that way. If its dependant on historical influenes then that will impart in writing, if its negotiable then it will influence writing.

Language effects the epistemology. Shift towards own epistemological stance. (This is/could show conditional tense reflecting negotiable subjects as an example).

Identity/self/being/power = judging, identity (see SB), being; i.e. you are positioning yourself!

Emphasise difference(s):

- How do historians write?

- How do you write as a history student?

(Historians write as an accumulative basis of the perceptions of others…)

Unravelling Writing Cultures

For Central Services: How do you unpick nuances across the disciplines?

For Lecturers: Unconcsiously competent so need to move to be consciously aware of skills. Teasing out the epistemological stance is tricky.

Staff say its about critical analysis and overlook cultural features of the disciplines. How do we get into the culture?

Identity and Difference

Defined by what it isn’t just as by what it is.

English and sociologists have diff epistemologies. They look for different things. Identity is relational and marked by difference.

Professional literacies. Diff. videos of professionals showing differences in writing (eg. Solicitor purposefully writing in a complex way rather than clearly).

Debunking common myths re writing. EG. In law, passive voice (i.e. contract wasn’t signed – no blaming); complicating clauses; dull writing to turn people off.

So, should writing be clear? It depends on the context, purpose, identity, audience! Writing is cultural; its diff in diff places.

How do we get into cultures?

- Putting methods used in one-to-one online

- Ask about lectures and seminars to unravel features of discipline

- Lectures! Up to date performance of cultural conventions of the discipline

EG: Thinking, writing & speaking as an English student. How to’s for English/dissecting the epistemologies (using lecture clips):

- Contextualising texts

- Historicising texts

- Positioning literature

After which it’s ‘over to you’ via cloze activities. What is the data? English, it’s literary. So look at the metaphors, characterisation, etc. In English = close readings of text; more quoting (in other subjects, more paraphrasing). Epistemologically – theorising texts in english.

Get students to unpick lectures shaped as they are.

Students as citizens?

- 2^nd section in VLe

- Looking for peer feedback

- Developing

- Set up activities for students to pick n mix

- Questions about lectures

- Activities for making most of feedback

- Implicitly, gives up authority – student led/facilitating

- Stress the joys of writing

* Needs to be structured. Pull out examples. Get students to look for others.

Notes from the Proceedings of the Student Writing in Transition Symposium 2011, Nottingham Trent University

Student writing and the transitions from school to University

Sally Baker, OU

• Multiple transitions – shifting discourses, commonalities. Here’s a case study.
• PhD project – final yr
• Framed by economic uncertainty and increase in fees

Medium of assessment is usually written (Lea 1999). Implications of ‘high stakes’ writing are far reaching. Transition viewed as pivotal in writing.

Framed by Ac Lits that sees literacy as a social practice

It is ethographically styled. 2 yrs in the field with participants recruited from 3 diff types of institution. Interviewed students 5x each (6 overall and communication via Facebook)

Discourses in Writing

Ivanic (2004) ‘Discourses of writing and learning to write’ Language & Education 18 (3) p.225

She identified 6 discourses. All represent a view about language:

1) Skills discourse (language as transferable, neutral, mobile)

2) Creativity discourse (views writing as a product of writers creativity)

3) Process discourse (composition, process, intro, conclusion, editing)

4) Genre discourse (Communities of practice, concerned with audience, purpose driven)

5) Social Practice

6) Socio-political discourse

Is there a 7^th one? An assessment discourse?

Case Study – Kate (made up name!)

- traditional path into uni

- a concord student (2 a’ levels at school, one from FE)

- Gained ABB

- Degree in English at a post 1992 uni

SB asked students to supply examples of successful and unsuccessful work/pieces of writing, plus a literacy log, plus copies of FB statements. Students bring pieces of work to interview and explain why it is/isn’t successful.

Materiality of writing is of note. It’s normal to handwrite at school and normal to WP at uni. Are there implications to this?

Kate’s literacy log shows that she includes FB entries, emails, etc. She was confident in her writing and found it ‘quite instinctive’. Also, proud of her writing and talks about English writing being easier than psychology writing. At uni her confidence became much lower and finds writing ‘really, really different’. Mentions difficulties with word count.

Findings

Commonalities in practice. Dominant framing = PEEing = Kate’s ideologies

PEEing = what we’ve been taught. Point, Evidence, Explanation. Kate’s methodology, followed rigidly. Also PEEing found in reflective writing. Finds it useful or a familiar shadow.

A place to promote her feminism. Kate described herself as a feminist. Takes feminist stance in writing…negotiating and holding onto an identity in writing.

Distinctions in practice

Diff writing/assessment schedules

Kate’s worries:

- Managing ‘bunched’ workload

- Increased complexity in content

- Meeting word counts

- Referencing/plagiarism

- Turnitin software

- Inconsistency and conflict in the assessment demands of ind. Lecturers, particularly the materiality of writing

Feedback practices:

- summative marks, no reference to PEEing

- No possiblility for improvement

- In HE, more feedback, notes and rubrics. More info about how they deal with it.

Discourses of writing and learning to write

Successful writing at FE falls into ‘process discourse’.

HE – what’s success? – grammar, style, audience, standards meet criteria. So a blend of skills, genre and assessment discourses.

But where’s the creativity discourse? Heuristically – use teachers feedback to disentangle discourses in writing.

FE = assessment discourse; i.e. marks, no dissection of writing

HE = Draws on skills, genre and assessment

Next Steps:

- Compare this data against others in the sample

- Look for other egs of PEEing

- Further explore the assessment discourse of writing and learning to write

- Could PEEing be a result of school and sixth form education? A dominant framing?

- How much do the discourses of lecturers effect and influence writing?

- Range of disciplines (science, humanities, law).

Notes from the Proceedings of the Student Writing in Transition Symposium 2011, Nottingham Trent University

From Transition to Transformation: students shaping their experience and their institutions

Dr Marco Angelini, UCL

1/3 of students experience ‘doubts’ in their fist year of uni.

Fees may exacerbate these feelings

NTU using tutorial teaching to combat this

3 Themes:

1) What are the differences in learning in school, FE and HE

2) What can HEI’s do to help their transition

3) How can we help students develop writing in their discipline

Peer Mentoring programme at UCL.

‘Students as agents of transformation’ or as ‘transformers’.

UCL transition programme is discipline based and practice based. Transformations in students, staff and curriculum.

The transition phase = a) pre-enrolment b) induction week activities. Preparatory work is put in place re online support, pre-arrival info, VLE. Within induction week there are ice breakers, tours and allocation of mentor groups using 400 mentors. 8 out of 10 meet weekly within their discipline.

The first 3-4 weeks is about social acclimatisation. Beyond 4-5 weeks, UCL ask mentors to turn these groups into peer assisted learning groups. They have weekly meetings in booked rooms with ‘set’ structured plans. Mentors receive training. In semester 2, the peer mentoring continues on a voluntary basis and group take ownership. Most students want to be PAL leaders on a voluntary basis.

Extension opportunities for mentors exist. Transformational leadership that PALs provide is central. Transformation as Ethos, Process and Outcome – its paves the way for a lot!

Student as ‘Metron’ (ancient greek word for man as a measure of things – centre of any good society has engaged citizens)

- A ‘student centre’ or putting students at the centre?

- As critical practitioners/learners – taking mentoring with you

- As the measure of all things (protagaras); gaining mastery through student experience.

Best transformation is student and mentor lead. Transition is in the detail:

- Prepare, do, review – critical reflection leads to agency

- PAL and participation; student agency effects T&L strategies. Does PAL have epistemology?

- Students as practitioners: taking responsibility

- Students as agents of the community with responsibility and critical engagement equals constantly transformative and aids metacognition as it reveals subjects to be negotiable = PAL epistemology

Adding it all up:

- practical approach (praxis-oriented approaches)

- feedback loop of all good practice

- communicate with each dept separately

Called ‘Transition Mentors’. Benefits (for mentor):

- learning to learn

- insightful

- informs own work

- they become reflective, critical thinkers and self aware

- comes through in grades

74% of mentors would continue

90% would be mentors again

98% would recommend

Students agreed that PAL sessions helped with writing and structuring. PAL is labour saving and complements departmental and school work

Summary

- Collaboration is central i) strategically, ii) ethically and iii) pedagogically

- Students as engines of institutional change

- Students transform themselves, disciplines and communities they move into

Britains Got Talent

Another post for graduates who are seeking their next challenge. If you are trying to break into the employment sector and start to carve a career out for yourself, then you might be interested in this resource:

Graduate Talent Pool: Connecting businesses to graduate skills

This is a fairly new resource that started up in July 2009 and is open and available for 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 graduates. The Graduate Talent Pool promises high quality internships across the private and public sectors and is another way of getting yourself linked in with graduate opportunities as and when they arise. So why not take a look?

And if you're after a broader take on life after graduation, then why not take a look at the Directgov website. This will take you through other options such as postgraduate study, starting up a business, knowledge transfer schemes, volunteering and gap years. The world is your oyster - go forth and get it!

Introducing the Student Life and Learning Team

Well a couple of posts in and I guess I should really introduce the new team and say a little bit about what we’re all about. Basically, our being has been the result of a merger between a couple of central posts within student support & academic guidance and a faculty-specific learning support post. Together, we reckon we can achieve something quite wonderful and are getting quite excited about the impact we hope to make on student life here at Keele. Aiming our work at both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and supported by new leadership of the newly titled Student Support and Development Services (SSDS), we are well placed to provide an all encompassing developmental service to meet a range of needs. Sound good? … But what does it actually mean?

OK, so in line with many of the key priorities of the University, and with the sector as a whole, the Student Life and Learning Team core activities will include:

• Supporting and enhancing student academic development (academic writing, research skills, referencing, exam performance, managing the dissertation process)
• Supporting and enhancing student personal development (personal organisation, time management, dealing with stress, confidence issues, motivation)
• Developing and delivering effective and innovative learning services and resources, ( for example online resources, skills workshops, sessions for specific groups of students)
• Supporting students through transition, for example by providing effective induction and orientation events and activities and by coordinating peer mentoring
• Providing targeted support for underrepresented student groups and specific student groups, for example care leavers, mature students, postgraduates, students with disabilities
• Enhancing the student experience (through the provision of co-curriculum relevant workshops and the organisation of social events underpinning the academic year)
• Supporting Staff to Support Students

Wow wee - that all sounds really rather grand. And we will keep you updated as some of this work rolls out into reality. But to boot, we’re a friendly bunch and hope to forge partnerships across the university to provide a joined up, student-centred service that holistically enriches the student experience. We welcome any ideas from staff or students so here are our names and numbers. If you want to get in touch, please do!

Student Life and Learning Team:

Student Life and Learning Manager - Claire Slater-Mamlouk, Tel (01782) 734365

Student Life and Learning Developers - Verity Aiken, Tel (01782) 733599 and
Ian Ronald, Tel (01782) 733912

Student Life and Learning Administration & Reception Manager - Sue Hughes, Tel (01782) 734347

Web Pages and Online Media

And don’t forget, you can find us online in other places too. Our web page is currently under construction (because it’s brand new and shiny like us!), but in the short term, you can keep abreast of our activities via Twitter and/or Facebook. Go on - like and follow us!

Bye for now, The Student Life and Learning Team (aka Claire, Ian, Verity and Sue)

Schools out for summer...so what now?

That's right folks, we're fast approaching the end of the academic year. Blink and you'll miss it. In fact, a lot of you will already be done and dusted and are now just waiting for the results to come in. But what to do in the mean time? And what to do after results? Or indeed, what to do after Keele full stop!

Well, here's a starting point.

All students can tap into our in-house resources. The Careers Team have a plethora of information at their finger tips and can help you get on the right track and make the most of your valuable skills and time.

If you're a finalist and in a bit of a quandary over what to do next, you might find the Prospects website a useful resource. It provides information on postgraduate courses, graduate jobs, gap years and work experience. It also has advice on preparing for interviews, compiling a CV & covering letter for both potential employers and when applying for postgrad courses alongside tips on how to market your skills, what job would suit you and on job hunting. Click here to go to the Prospects website.

You might also find this graduate jobs site useful when looking for work and remember that you can set up job alerts as well as search for vacancies on several websites (e.g. The Guardian jobs and jobs.ac.uk). If you are very attached to the bubble environment that is Keele and want to continue studying, then you might want to look at the postgrad courses available here.

And for those of you are already coming back to continue your studies, then don't forget that the summer is an excellent time to get some of that all important experience under your belt. You might be able to apply for an internship, a quality opportunity to let you really work on those graduate attributes. Take a look at this internship website. And don't forget, even if you're taking up part-time work, you will still be putting your skills and qualities to the test - so do take time to note what skills you're using so you can sing and dance about them at a later date. Really, it all counts.